Kronis Takes Charge
by tslove
Summary: In the frontier desert city of Tauren, on the planet Eternia, a new young criminal rises to take control of the cities most powerful gang. Another in my new take on the Master Of the Universe mythos, which combine the mini -comics, the cartoons, and my own imagination for a new more adult take on the lore and world building. This is the story of Kronis before he comes Trap-jaw


**The Battle That Changed The World**

A Eternian Historians Account

Randor had been born a prince, but commissioned by his father to join the military, where he attained the rank of Captain. Randor had posted various important victories in war campaigns against his father foes, including commanding a battalion of his own men with Queen Sumana, of Arcadias famous Arcadian female warriors, to defeat the forces of Count Marzo, when he had attempted to storm the city and wrest control from Queen Sumana. This had led to a continuing alignment between the city states of Eternos and Arcadia. Randor had proved to be not only a brave capable leader, but wise as well, for when during the climantic battle of the War of Keldor's Uprising, when the brunt of Keldors forces commandeered by the deadly technologists and swordsmith Lord Tridor Essaneaux had attacked Eternos, Randor had realized that Keldor and Evil-Lynn themselves were not in the fray, and correctly surmised that while they were using the full scale invasion of Eternos, with twenty thousand Keld warriors on the ground, dozens of airships bombing the city, and a company of Rotors smashing the city walls, the Rebel Duke himself and his witch-lover had taken a few thousand of men, beasts and mechanicals and assaulted the Hall Of Wisdom. It was there that Keldor had employed the full power of the Havoc Staff, for this was the day he had planned for.

Channeling the dark powers in the stave, he had rained the dark magic of Despondos itself down upon the gateway to the Hall, shattering it. The forces of Keldor had entered the Hall and engaged the Hall of Wisdoms defense golems, who had been enacted to make a last, desperate stand.

Captain Randor had entrusted the defense of Eternos to his second in command, although the man was quickly killed by a bomb from an airship attack, along with almost all of his officers, and the cities defense fell upon the shoulders of a new arrival from Tauren, a young lieutenant named Duncan. And now I will quote the words of the Vulnarians own historian : "The human histories may never tell of how this young lieutenant, only twenty-two summers of age at the time, faced the tidal wave of bloodshed of the New Horde and did not welsh, but we of the Vulnar Valley remember. We do not forget, how when the city walls finally collapsed from the combined assault of the Rotors on the ground, and the few airships that the Avion warriors had left undestroyed, when the defense of Eternos was at its lowest, this young lieutenant Duncan did not despair but instead moved to a turreted railgun and manned it himself, firing the deadly high speed explosive javelins at the Rotors and bidding the men of Eternia to stand their ground." This heartened the Eternians and Avions, and they did stand, until when it looked as if the city would be lost at the last, finally the Arcadian Women Warriors arrived from the sea, their great ships raining fire and lead down upon the Rotors, even as thousands of Arcadian Woman Warriors the likes of which only Vulnarians can match in battle stormed the Keld Warriors on the ground.

Soon, the tide was turned, the ferocity of the Arcadians in the midst of their slaying was marvelous and terrible to look upon, they worship revered Teela as the Vulnarians do, but the most deadly of them worship only Teela-Na the Serpent, She-Who-Strikes. The woman- warriors coat their blades in mysterious poisons, and it is said that you cannot survive even the mere prick of a Arcadian womans blade. Randor had been wise to secure their aide.

Much has been made, and will continue to be made, no doubt, of the fact that the Vulnarian warriors themselves did not take part in the war against Keldor, or even in the last defense of Eternos. They have been vilified for this. It is important to remember however, that as Great Teelas own champions, the Vulnarians were designated protectors to all of Eternia, not just to one city-state, and most importantly they were to protect against threats that emanated from either Despondos, the feared "hell-dimension", or Horde Prime, the planet of evil. Duke Keldor, no matter how great his magic, no matter what his connection to the Horde of old, if indeed it existed, was still a man, as was his army and his allies, simply men with machines of war and workbeasts. Those were not the threats the chosen of Teela were instructed to protect Eternia from. Furthermore, it is said that the Vulnarians will never go to war unless Teela Herself commands them too. The fact that they did not, means She did not. Of course, cynics and non believers will say that is proof of both their irrelevancy in larger Eternian matters and of the non existence and myth of Teela This historian makes no such presumptions, and indeed will prove that these ideas are heretical and blatantly false.

So, when Captain Randor learned of his foes strategy, he compelled King Stratos of Avion, and Hiram Krass of Tyre, the Head Axeman, and set out in a Windraider flying machine, with Stratos and a host of Avions flying behind and thirty WindRaidors carrying one hundred fifty of his men, to the Hall of Wisdom. Captain Randor knew Keldor would have the superior forces, but he could not take time to muster anymore troops. They had to fly then, to have hope of making it to the Hall in time. They drew the fire of the Horde flying warships on the way, as they had to fly across the field of battle to reach the Hall of Wisdom of the Elders. Bravely did king Stratos and his Avion warriors employ their thermodynamic jetpacks to blast ahead of the Windraiders and suicidally attack the airships, planting their rest of their explosive charges along the engines of the great ships. Most of the Avion warriors were lost in the charge, and King Stratos himself was wounded in the shoulder in the attack, but they were successful, and the remaining airships exploded in the air with earthshaking sonic booms, then the remains plummeted the field of battle where they indiscriminately crushed those beneath them.

Thus, it was with only Stratos King of Avion, Hiram Krass the Axeman (who had not yet suffered the effects of the technovirus injected at the hands of the vile Tri-Klops, that would turn him into the armored cyborg known as Ram-Man) , twenty Windraiders, and a mere handful of wounded Avions did brave Captain Randor arrive at the Hall of Wisdom, to behold that the villainous Duke had already breached the gates and set fire to the Hall. They employed the last of the WindRaiders weapons to kill as many of the Keld warriors guarding the outside of the Hall as they could, and then they halo jumped through the smoke and fire directly into the fray of battle, still outnumbered three to one. Guns and projectiles were useless at the close range, so with clubs and bladed weapons did the men and allies of Randor and the Keld warriors engage each other. The stony ground ran red with gore, and only the clash of steel was louder than the screams of the wounded and dying . The very air turned red with the mist of blood, such was the tight, closed space of the battle, for the Hall was situated on a sheer cliff, and the trained Keld warriors, once they recovered from the initial assault, has reformed to try and use their shields as battering rams to drive the forces of Randor off of the cliff wall.

It was in that hour that Hiram The Axeman proved his worth, for, even though later he would have the cybernetic legs and heavy armor for which he was to become famous, at that time he was still a man free of enhancements, but a man the likes of which few will ever walk this world again. Long and loud did Hiran Krass laugh at the Kelds shield wall, and with a rage he shouted, "For My Lord Randor! For Eternos! For Freedom!" and he charged the shield wall alone, swinging his great axe. Hiram Krass crashed into the kelds shield wall like a great bull, and his axe separated arms from shields and heads from bodies. Randor charged behind him, and his men followed. Soon, it was simply bloody, dirty, chaos, but the ferocity of the Eternos soldiers and the Avions could not be withstood. The kelds were overwhelmed, and soon those who were left surrendered.

It was not without heavy loss, however. In the midst of battle, Randor and his men realized that the famed inventor and swordsmen Tridor of Essenaux was in the battle, and in each hand he swung his deadly rapiers than seemed faster than the wind itself! Dozens did Tridor cut down, lightning quick would Tridor impale an Eternos soldier, and when the soldier realized he was dead, fleetfooted Tridor would already have danced on to the next one.

It was this way that Hiram of Krass fell. As he raised his great axe to behead a Keld captain, Hiram had felt a quick, impossibly sharp pulse rapier slice right through first his right leg, then his left. For half a second his severed limbs still supported his torso, then he crumbled, a now mutilated half-man, fallen to the ground to bleed out and die. Captain Randor saw this through the clouds of dirt and blood, screamed in rage, and knowing he had no time to reach the quick, graceful, swordmaster Tridor, threw a well aimed dagger hoping to kill him. Tridor had been able to knock the dagger away before it passed through his brain, but not quick enough, for the tip of the flying dagger nevertheless sliced through his left eye. The now one-eyed swordmaster-inventor saw his chances of survival dramatically decrease, so instead he ran and leapt off of the cliff. Captain Randor had gone and peered over the edge of the cliff, but did not see him, so reckoned him dashed to death on the rocks far below.

As the remaining Keld warriors surrendered and were taken prisoner, Randor moved to his friend and Axeman who lay dying on the stony ground. "Hiram, my friend, we will get you to the healers," he had said, softly.

"Naigh, my friend," Hiran protested. "The dark comes quick. I will be dead before they arrive. But weep not for me! My fathers welcome me into their hallowed halls!"

Randor looked to King Stratos, who had shaken his head, the Avion could not carry the large man, and the Windraiders would not be fast enough.

Randor had nodded and closed Hirans hands around his great axe, "you pass as you lived my friend, with honor. Your fathers indeed wait for you. Eternos honors you!"

"Captain!" Hiram choked through blood. "Waste no more time on a dead man! The Hall awaits! The Elders..."

"Will be defended, friend," Randor finished. And with that, he moved away from the body of his friend and urged those remaining to follow him into the Hall.

More chaos greeted them inside the large burning Hall. Mechanical Golems were valiantly but hopelessly trying to hold off Keldors soldiers from the inner chamber, but one by one they were being destroyed by surges of lightning from the Havoc Staff. Furiously, Capain Randor, wounded King Stratos, and the few Avians and Eternos soldier that were left did engage the Keld warriors, while Duke Keldor and his witch queen lover Lynn focused all their power on shattering the magics keeping the final gate to the inner sanctum shut.

Just as Randors forces and the remaining defense golems defeated the last of the Keld soldier, the heavy stone gate to the inner sanctum blew apart. Keldor shouted in victory, took Evil Lynns hand, rose into the hair, and together the two of them floated into the sanctum. He was clad in black and royal purple leathers and armor, and he was coated in the gore and blood of battle, yet the moment revived him, and he appeared as one experiencing a terrible kind of religious awe as he floated into the sanctum, intent on the murder of the Elders.

Evil-Lynn, however, had spent the battle high in the air, using her command of the dark arts of Despondos to watch, and aiding when she could by releasing well timed and aimed cyclones or hailstorms upon the enemy. Thus was she clean and free of gore, and beautiful to look upon, also clad in royal purple, a crown upon her white hair, and her eyes glowing so bright with thaumaturgy to look upon them was like looking into the sun. She seemed a Goddess as she flew slowly into the Hall.

Loudly did Keldor command the Council of Elders to show themselves and meet their doom, but it was something else altogether than responded to his command. The air in sanctum crackled and ripped, as if being torn asunder, and a tall alien being in silver and red armor with a red helmet and a strange ray pistol materialized instead. Though he had never seen the being in person, Keldor recognized him from the old stories, and questioned his authority.

"Zodac, _Cosmic Enforcer_," Keldor all but spit the words out, "What business have you here?"

"I am commanded," the mysterious being responded, in an alien voice. "Ages ago, I was commanded to stop your ancestor Gar-Adi from taking the life of the child who would become Wun-Dar, the first Vulnarian. That was to keep the balance of good and evil. Now, I am commanded to prevent his descendant from using the Havok Staff to upset the balance of good and evil on this planet."

"Who commands you, alien?" the Gar Duke asked disdainfully, "Queen Bitch Teela?"

"The Masters Of The Universe command me," Zodak answered, and then calmly raised his hand and easily deflected a energy blast from Evil Lynn.

Captain Randor and his men had made it into the Sanctum. He saw Keldor raise the Havoc Staff and preparing to destroy the Cosmic Enforcer with it. But when Keldor had released the Staff, nothing happened. It was as if the magic was gone from it.

"As I said, " strange Zodak said, "The Masters have given me authority to nullify the Staff and your magic, descendant of Gar-Adi. You too, are thus handicapped, witch!" he pointed to Evil Lynn, and suddenly she fell to the ground becoming rigid, as if in invisible bonds. "If you are to be the victor today, it must be by your sword arm, not your magic. By the same token, it has been decreed no magic may be used against you during this time."

"My sword arm is more than enough," Keldor growled, removing two deadly long curved black blades. "I have two of them."

"Keldor!" Captain Randor had called out, "No one else need to die today! You and I can settle this, right now!"

"Fool!" Keldor replied, "Know you not me? It was with this sword alone that I gutted your cousin, Sir Reiner!"

"You will pay for that, and many things, today," Randor had calmly replied, and rushed to engage.

Long did the two leaders fight on the floor of the sanctum. It was said that only swordsmith Tridor Essenaux was the match of Duke Keldor in swordplay, and Keldor was swinging two short swords against Captain Randors swords and shield combo. Keldor clearly had the advantage. Finally, keldor had driven one of his swords through the forearm of Randors shield arm, forcing him to drop the shield. His soldiers cried out, but knew that they could not interfere. The fate of the world was staked on this battle, and now they doubted.

"Despair not!" King Stratos shouted to the men, but Keldor had laughed and moved in for the kill. Randor then became a legend, proving that like his illustrious ancestor, the great Greyskull, he too was willing to sacrifice himself for Eternia. Before Keldor could reach him, he had grabbed his short sword and in one quick motion sliced off his own wounded arm above the elbow, and then very quickly turned so the resulting blood spouted directly into Keldors eyes. With the same motion, he used his right leg to sweep Keldors left leg, knocking him down. Keldor got only to his knees before he realized the tip of Randors sword was at his throat.

"Surrender now, Duke Keldor, and you will receive a fair trial in Eternos," Captain Randor said, "Even now, I have no wish for more death."

"What do you know of _fair_?' Duke Keldor had hissed, and from cunning pockets revealed a vial of clear liquid, which he threw desperately at Captain Randor.

Randor had used the flat of his sword to block the thrown vial, and it broke and splashed back into Keldors face, coating it. The mysterious liquid did its work fast. Keldors face began to smoke, then melt, and the skin sloughed away, revealing the yellow Gar skull underneath. His eyeballs burned away in their sockets, as did his ears, lips and nose, and his neck began burning away. It was too much for any mortal man to stand, and the defiant duke howled one last time, a ear splitting sound of pure rage, and then collapsed dead on the sanctum floor.

The magic keeping Evil Lynn in bondage was broken, and so was her will to fight. She ran to Keldors now faceless, mutilated body and wept, deep soul wrenching sobs. The only two men she had ever loved, her father and the keld duke, both had had their faces taken from then, and her lover his life. For the moment, pure despair overshadowed her rage, and she lay over Keldors like a dead thing, burning herself in places with the still smoking acid.

All those present stared, as she stood, and gathered Keldors body in her arms. then, before she could be stopped, she used the last of her magic reserves to spirit herself and Keldor away from the Hall, back to the only place she knew, back to the Mountain of the Snake...

Zodak had turned to Captain Randor. "You must not die," he had said to the Captain, who appeared to be on the verge of doing just that.

"There was poison on Keldors blades," the Captain said, "cutting off my arm was just as much an attempt to save my own life as it was to stop him."

"And you are bleeding out," the alien said . Then, he produced a surgical instrument and cauterized the wound. Captain Randor tried, but was unable to not scream.

"That will hold you until you get to healers," the Cosmic Enforcer said, "My part in this is over now. Soon, a Hero will walk among you. It is He who will keep the Balance."

With that said, Zodak the Cosmic Enforcer disappeared, and was not seen in that world again.

But as Zodak disappeared, the Council of Elders appeared. Luminous Light Beings they were, towering over those present. When Randor, Stratos, and the other men kneeled, the Council bid them rise, and bowed to Randor instead.

"Hail Randor, King of Eternia," they said, all in one voice.

"My lords?" Randor had asked, "I am the Crown Prince of Eternos, the City State. the planet is..."

"Yours." The Council replied. "The planet of Eternos is now yours to rule over as you see fit. You are a direct descendant of Greyskull. You have proven your worth. The planet is yours."

There was an uncomfortable tension in the air. The governing body of Eternia had just named a planetary monarch for the first time in ten thousand years, and even worse, King Stratos had just been told that he was no longer king of his people. War could have come from that moment.

"The Councils word is law," Stratos said, "but my people will be ill adjusted."

"My friend," new King Randor quickly said , "I see no need for change between our two great kingdoms. We have been, and I wish us to remain, friends and allies. Without the sacrifice of you and your people, this day would not have been won! If the Council wishes me King, then I wish for all wise rulers like you to keep your kingdoms, and to govern as you see fit! I hope you will continue to aid us in times of war, as we will you, but your culture and people are older than ours, and I make no presumptions to know it better than you. You are the king of the Avions!"

The people breathed a sigh of relief, and some actually cheered. "King Stratos clasped the hand of his friend, "Very well, my king", he said, "for that is who you are, and gladly will I and my people come to you when called. Let none ever say the Kingdom of Avion is not a friend to the Crown!"

The Elders nodded. "It seems we have chosen well," they said. "Orbs are being sent even as we speak to the kingdoms all over Eternia, proclaiming Randor their new king. Many will follow you Randor King, others will not. There will be war..."

"We must try and unite the planet without bloodshed," Randor had said, "There has been enough of that already."

"We are afraid it will not be possible. The same nobles who supported Keldor will not go quietly. But you have proven we chose well. The winds of Destiny blow once again, and our time is at an end."

With that said the Council of Elders exploded into clouds of light, which swirled, settling finally into a luminous glass orb. There was a thud! from above, and the Eternians looked up in surprise to see the ceiling of the ruined hall being lifted and removed by the largest falcon any of them had ever seen. The enormous bird flew into the hall, and floated just above the glass orb, its wingspan at least fifteen feet and its beak like that of a dragon. A womans voice issued from the falcon. "I am Zoar, mouthpiece of Teela-Boa," the bird said. "This orb now contains all the wisdom of the Council of Elders, and I take it thus to Castle Greyskull, to guard its secrets. Only Those That Prove Worthy may access it!"

With that said, the falcon grasped the glass orb in its enormous talons and took to the air with it, and none present ever saw it again. The Eternias gasped at the wonder they had witnessed.

"My King," Stratos addressed Randor, "The witch Evil-Lynn escaped."

"We must find her." Randor answered. "We all saw the passing of the villainous Duke, but the witch yet lives and can still do great harm. We must search the ends of the earth for her, if necessary."

"Agreed," Stratos replied, and now, let us leave this hall, for it comes down."

And they saw he was right, and exited the Hall of Wisdom quickly before the walls collapsed. Upon exiting, they were surprise to see that the body of Hiram the Axeman was gone, so they harbored hope that he may yet live.

There was much rebuilding to do in Eternos, as there was everywhere the war of Keldors Uprising had raged. Randors father had received the message from the council, and thus abdicated the throne to his son, and King Randor had declared that Eternia had suffered great loss, and there would be no celebrations of his kingship crowning, they would focus all their energy on rebuilding what the war had destroyed.

The brave young lieutenant who had taken command of the defense of Eternos was sent to engineering school, and when he graduated was made Man -At-Arms, the youngest ever.

As the Council had predicted, many of the eastern and southern regions did not take to Randors reign, and when Randor issued his "creed", declaring all men equal in the eyes of the gods, the slave holding nobles declared open rebellion again. Randor had been reluctant to prosecute the nobles involved in Keldors uprising for war crimes, instead simply removing them from power and installing their sons on their thrones, but when they rebelled again he changed course and began arresting them, and their disdain of the new king grew.

Randor allowed his allies to keep their holding and govern as they saw fit, as long as they agreed to follow his creed, so the Crowns relations with the Kingdoms of Avion and Sumatra flourished.

They looked for Evil Lynn, but did not find her. Her father used his still considerably strong magic to hide her in the Snake Mountain, and each day she rested and recovered, her power grew back. The dead Keldor lay entombed in the bowels of the mountain, yet the Faceless One imagined he could still feel malignant energy rising from the corpse.

Lord Tridor Essenaux had escaped to his own lands, where he fashioned for himself a cybernetic helmet that he wired directly to his brain, never to be removed. The helmet had three rotating eyes, and he learned how to use the eyes more and more.

The mutilated torso of Hiran Krass floated in a amniotic chamber in his laboratories, where he waited for his experiments with the alien techno virus he had discovered in a meteorite to bear fruit, the virus that could merge man and machine, even regrowing limbs. Tridor, now known as "Tri-klops" had the perfect test subject now.

Meanwhile, in the Vulnar valley, the great Goddess Teela-Nah began to speak to her chief shaman Orko in dreams, telling him about the birth of a yellow haired infant...

The End


End file.
